


Basically, I

by stayingputwouldbeablunder



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Sorry, M/M, Slow Build, The Alpha Pack, The Pack, both as background, inappropriate use of ringtones, it gets fluffy towards the end I swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-21
Updated: 2013-07-21
Packaged: 2017-12-20 05:06:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/883277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stayingputwouldbeablunder/pseuds/stayingputwouldbeablunder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At first, he has Stiles’ number out of necessity. Scott is sixteen and has the horrible habit of not answering his phone whereas Stiles will always pick up because god forbid something has happened to his dad. He’s steadfastly loyal that way, similar in the way Derek was to Laura. Blood ties tend to do that when all that’s left of your family is one functioning adult and a child whose world has collapsed in on itself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Basically, I

**Author's Note:**

> Written (mostly) after 3x04, prior to 3x05, and plotted before 3x06. This is everything I didn’t mean to write. This was supposed to be a 3k fluffy piece about the evolution of Derek and Stiles’ relationship and how Stiles gives Derek inappropriate ringtones because I have a lot bad pop music on my iPod and then FEELS RUINED EVERYTHING. It gets there eventually but plot and feels and other shit had to happen first apparently.
> 
> Where’s the wine?
> 
> I tried to stay canon compliant with what I knew about the rest of the season when I started writing this, which wasn’t a lot. Safe to say now this _way_ diverges from canon. I, I. . . I wrote something I don’t ship and I don’t know how I feel about that.
> 
> Unbeta'd because I was anxious (read: bitch). I kind of threw this beast at my [beta](http://sorcerous-kitty.tumblr.com) and didn't give her time to edit it, so if you are reading this I AM SO SORRY. But you all should still go say hi to her because she's awesome. She had to deal with me saying I was done with this thing like four times.
> 
> ALL MISTAKES ARE MY OWN.

At first, he has Stiles’ number out of necessity. Scott is sixteen and has the horrible habit of not answering his phone whereas Stiles will always pick up because god forbid something has happened to his dad. He’s steadfastly loyal that way, similar in the way Derek was to Laura. Blood ties tend to do that when all that’s left of your family is one functioning adult and a child whose world has collapsed in on itself.

Derek’s skeptical when he hands Stiles his phone in the Jeep, body wanting nothing more than to collapse in the uncomfortable front seat of the vehicle that is easily older than he is by at least ten years. Stiles takes it and enters his cell number quickly, threatening Derek with physical pain if he calls him in the middle of the night to go fetch Scott. Derek growls, or at least attempts to, but the wolfsbane coursing its way through his system is like fire and causes him to curse instead. Stiles gags and drives to Deaton’s animal clinic and they don’t talk about the fact that he is now one of seven phone numbers in Derek’s phone.

After the night in the school when Scott accuses Derek of being a serial killer, followed by two days of running from the police, getting shot at by hunters, and deigning to let Scott drive the Camaro, Derek seeks solace at the Stilinski’s because the cops are _everywhere_ and would never look at the Sheriff’s. It’s a good plan until Stiles grows a pair, talks back when Derek has him pressed against the door, and the air floods with a combination of fear and lust.

Stiles is still smug over pimping Derek out for Danny’s help, grinning when the kid leaves the house. He then glares at Derek for a good two minutes before demanding to see his phone. Derek wants to throw it at his face, but instead sits down on the bed and asks why.

“You’re a wanted fugitive. The first thing the cops are going to do when they catch you is check your contacts to see who you spoke with last. Unless you’ve been calling the hospital or Laura’s cell, it’s me and Scott, right?” Stiles doesn’t notice, can’t notice the way Derek’s heart skips a beat. “If my dad found my number in your phone, what do you think he would do to me? Do you know how much that would hurt him?”

“That’s not my problem.” It’s harsh but true; he’s sure Stiles could think of fifty reasons as to why Derek would have his number, anyways.

“Just give me your phone, asshole. I’m not getting implicated in the shit Scott said.”

“He should have kept his mouth shut.”

“I know, I told him that later.” Stiles’ pulse raises just a bit, normal thrum already quicker than an average person’s.

“Liar. You thought I was dead.”

Stiles pauses for a moment before leaning forward to pluck Derek’s phone from his palm. “I thought it, okay. We’re new at this, we don’t know what can kill you.”

The way Stiles says _we_ , like he’s affected by this just as much as Scott is, should be disconcerting. But maybe that’s normal for them; Derek knows they are best friends but outside being mutual idiots who get themselves into trouble on a weekly basis, he doesn’t know how they function around each other. Maybe Stiles is just being a nosy teenager, enamored with the supernatural and running with wolves.

“Just be quick, we need to go to the hospital.” He pauses, mindlessly tugging at the hem of the shirt that reeks of Stiles and is too small. “Changing your name isn’t going to help. Your father will still know your number.”

“I don’t care.”

“Fine.”

When Stiles tosses the phone back onto Derek’s lap, it’s with a wide smirk. Scott McCall has become _Jock_ and Stiles Stilinski has become _Trusty_. Derek rolls his eyes because of course he gets the reference. He lived with two sisters for years, Disney movies were a weekly occurrence.

\- - -

After he becomes the alpha, Derek doesn’t have much time between turning the betas and dealing with the kanima to bother changing Stiles’ contact name. Erica makes fun of him for it once, clutching her side while cackling, and he makes her run three miles along the trails in the Preserve as punishment. Boyd chastises her when she comes trudging up to the front steps of the Hale house, sweaty and panting, and Erica just smiles at him like a puppy. It’s nauseating but then Isaac makes a smart ass comment and volunteers himself to be _it_ in an impromptu game of tag.

They run the woods for hours, until the sun has started to go down. It’s violent but not because their bodies mend wounds like magic. Erica breaks a finger, Isaac twists his ankle, Boyd takes a pointy branch to the face. It’s bonding and fun; it’s _weird_. They collapse in a pile as the sun goes behind the ridge of the hill the house is on, exhausted but content. If they fall asleep and Derek wakes up to the betas curled around him, he doesn’t say anything.

That night he changes Stiles’ contact name to SS.

Three days later, his phone meets its watery death as Stiles keeps him afloat in the pool for two hours. It’s degrading and humiliating and Derek thinks that in any other situation, Stiles would find it hilarious that the big bad wolf had to rely on a measly human for protection. Reality is hearing Stiles’ heartbeat fluttering wildly every time the kanima screeches, smelling the acerbic scent of fear over chlorine.

For the minute that he sinks to the bottom of the pool and can just barely see Stiles thrashing about at the surface, he thinks that’s it: he’s dead, he deserves this. But then he’s gasping in air and Stiles is saying Scott hung up. Stiles’ phone remains at the bottom of the pool when they leave the school that night because neither has the energy to go back down and get it.

The second time Stiles gives Derek his number, it’s in the shampoo aisle at Walmart. Stiles is all snickers and erratic hand movements as he goes off on a tangent about where the man showers if he lives in a warehouse and Derek bites his tongue. The teen is laughing at his own comments, cheeks flushed the lightest bit red, before his expression turns serious and he sets his basket full of Red Bull and a first aid supplies on the ground.

“So Scott’s part of your pack now.”

“Yeah, so?”

“He doesn’t like you, you know.” Stiles glances around the aisle before continuing. “He doesn’t think of you as his alpha.”

“You don’t like me either and yet we’re standing here.” Derek watches Stiles grin again and he finds it hard not to do the same. “Did you need something?”

“Yeah, I- oh. Hold on.” The cell phone in Stiles’ back pocket starts ringing, a muted and distorted version of _Weapon of Choice_ becoming louder as he slides his finger across the screen to answer. “Hey, dad. Yeah, I know, I had to run to the store to pick something up. No, I’m not buying energy drinks.”

Derek snorts and Stiles rolls his eyes this time before turning to rearrange the display of conditioners to his right.

“I’ll be home in like half an hour. I’ll buy us dinner, okay?” Derek hears faint mumbling over the speaker and knows if he tried he would be able to hear every word clearly. He doesn’t and Stiles sighs before saying ' _You too_ ,' and hanging up. The teen’s entire demeanor changes until he catches himself and turns back to the alpha with a practiced smile.

“Lying to your father now?”

“I do it to protect him,” Stiles says, eyes lingering on a bottle of shampoo in the wrong row. “Scott said you got a new phone.”

“So?”

“So, you lost everyone’s numbers.”

“I’m failing to see the point of this conversation.”

“Just give me your phone. Scott’s all flighty these days and I can’t deal with you showing up in my room unannounced because you need my help. I rather give you my number now than Erica manhandle me again, which, thank you, by the way, my forehead rather enjoyed being stuck with part of my baby’s engine.”

Derek almost calls him a mouthy little shit but pulls his phone from his leather jacket, hands it to Stiles, and tries not to watch the way the kid’s spindly fingers sweep across the screen. Stiles hits send and the phone in his pocket starts playing another song. This one Derek recognizes instantly but Stiles just flicks ignore and enters his name as a contact.

“'I Fought the Law’. Really?”

“Really.”

He smirks and hands Derek his cell. The alpha doesn’t even grant Stiles a response, just shakes his head before walking away, ignoring the way the teen laughs at his retreating back. He half expects Stiles to follow and press his buttons, but he doesn’t.

When Derek is sitting at a stoplight in the Camaro on the way to warehouse, he finally checks to see what Stiles has set his contact name as. The last person in his call history is now _Bruce Wayne_. Someone honks at him while he’s staring at the screen and he flicks them off as they speed past him into the open lane to his left.

\- - -

Because Stiles is nosy and persistent, and god, Derek gets it, he’s _the son of the Sheriff_ , it’s genetic that he worms his way into everyone’s business, Stiles shows up at the warehouse a couple of days after Jackson leaves Beacon Hills. It’s a few weeks into the summer and in between training the kanima-turned-beta and searching for Erica and Boyd, Derek hasn’t had time to even realize it’s been _months_ since the last time he’s seen Stiles.

The kid comes to stand in front of the subway car, cautious as something in the Ironworks a few buildings away crashes. He’s grown his hair out since the night in the warehouse, when Gerard got what he wanted and Jackson turned. Derek watches him look around, before settling on the back of the subway car where Derek is standing.

It’s chance that Derek is even here. It’s the only place that still smells heavily of Boyd and Erica. Isaac left not ten minutes ago, looking somber and reeking of unease.

“Hey.”

“What are you doing here?” Derek steps from the subway car, watching as Stiles’ eyes glance around.

“Erica and Boyd are missing.”

Derek crosses his arms, staring down the teenager. Stiles just grins and rolls back on his heels. “And you would know that how?”

“Gerard had them dangling from the ceiling and hooked up to a car battery the night he beat me unconscious. They never came back to school. Scott said Isaac hasn’t mentioned them.” Stiles takes a step forward. “And Jackson told me.”

“Jackson told you what?”

“You trained him the art of werewolfhood before he left, don’t be shy.” The kid snickers at his own comment before continuing. “We all saw him off to London. And-"

“If you make a reference to that horrible movie I will gut you.”

“Well, _now_. Really though, Jackson texted me when he landed. I don’t know why but I’m the only one that knows.”

“You didn’t tell Scott?”

“Nope.” Derek listens for the telltale blip in Stiles’ heartbeat but it never comes.

“Why?”

“Scott has enough to worry about right now. He and his mom, they have stuff to work on. And he’s in summer school because last year screwed his grades hardcore.”

“I still don’t see why _you_ are here.”

“My dad told me to go get a job or join Scott.”

“So you came here instead.”

“Yes, because I can help.” Derek raises an eyebrow and Stiles frowns. “Look, it’s just you and Isaac.”

“And Peter.”

“Oh god, really? You’re actually still talking to that psycho?”

“I need help and he knows more than I do.”

“Fine. You and Isaac and the certified creeper. You’re great at tracking and all that, but I know the ways of the internet and can access half of the police databases from my laptop.”

Derek watches Stiles grow nervous, begin to fiddle with the phone in his pocket and a hole in his left sleeve. He finally exhales loudly and tilts his head back. Something sparks and Derek forces himself to look away.

“Look, I can help. I want to. I,- I’m the reason Scott was dragged into this in the beginning. I talked him into going to the woods that night. I don’t owe your betas anything, but I can’t- I can’t let them die. Too many people have died and Dad’s still being hounded by the county over everyone Matt had Jackson kill.”

Derek sighs, lets his arms fall, and takes one look back at the subway car. It’s a shell now, of what he’s called home for two months. It’s the last place left that has any trace of his pack.

“Okay.”

“Really?”

Stiles makes a noise akin to a manly squeal and falls into place next to the alpha as they climb the stairs. Derek locks the building before walking two blocks without saying a word. The Camaro is sitting in an alley next to one of the main streets.

“Go get your Jeep.”

“Where are we going?”

“Home.”

\- - -

It’s an easy and smooth transition from loose acquaintances to pseudo friends. Stiles comes by the loft every few days at first, his backpack filled with his laptop, printed out reports, anything he can dig up on the missing betas. Derek arranges it so Isaac is never at the loft when Stiles is, although the last member of his pack can smell his scent lingering in the couch cushions. Isaac doesn’t say a thing.

Peter is an easy sell because he’s still recovering from whatever he’s done to come back from the dead. Derek threatens to maim him and Peter just shrugs and goes back to his own apartment. Stiles peeps out from the kitchen with a butcher’s knife in his hand and thanks Derek. He’s not sure why Stiles is so wary around his uncle and the air around the teen is off for the next hour until Derek promises he isn’t coming back.

Stiles being in the loft becomes comfortable, too comfortable for them only temporarily working together. The teen leaves his notes scattered across the metal table in the main room, hangs a map of the Preserve on the refrigerator door with his handwriting scribbled across it, forgets his phone there on accident once a week. The first time that happened, Derek stepped out onto the ill-used balcony and yelled at Stiles from six stories up. He then dropped the phone over an open but full dumpster and Stiles screamed at him.

Sometimes Stiles falls asleep on the couch, mouth open, one arm dangling off the armrest, and Derek wonders how it’s comfortable. Then his phone will go off, wailing this song or that, and some name Derek never recognizes lights up the screen. Stiles never bothers with leaving the room - Derek would be able to find his voice from a block away.

As the summer passes, Derek begins to match songs with their owners and code names with people he knows. His own is _Ain’t No Rest For the Wicked_ , some simple strummed song that he doesn’t know if he should feel insulted by. Scott is _Moony_ and his ringtone is so subtly assigned as _Hungry Like the Wolf_. Lydia, who calls or texts Stiles surprisingly often, is _Annie Dale Biddle Andrews_ ; Derek has no idea who that is and doesn’t until he looks it up after the teen has left one night. He recognizes that Stiles’ pulse quickens a little in the beginning, every time the same Indie song erupts from the speaker. By end of July, the song has changed to one Derek actually recognizes, _Killer Queen_ , and Stiles take longer and longer to accept the calls.

They argue and discuss and banter back and forth over where the missing betas might be until one afternoon Derek flashes red eyes at Stiles and the teen goes silent. He then contorts his face into a pleased grin and says ‘ _Dude, I’ve been trying to get you to do that for two weeks_ ’. Derek kicks him out and leans against the door to the loft after he slams it closed, wondering why Stiles would want to rile him up. The next morning, the kid shows up early with coffee and bagels and Derek smiles at his retreating back when Stiles heads into the kitchen.

August comes and they’re still no closer to finding Erica and Boyd. Stiles is at the loft as regularly as Isaac is, and the beta _lives_ there, often huddled across the metal desk, balancing the stool on two legs. Derek, Isaac, and Peter spend the days walking the woods, looking for any sign that Erica and Boyd may have left. The clearing their scents lead to after their disappearance has been trampled, though the Alpha pack’s scents lingered for weeks.

It storms the entire week before school starts. Stiles lets himself into the loft the last Friday before his junior year without his backpack, just an armful of food from Derek’s favorite Chinese place. They eat in silence, a rare feat, sitting close on the couch as Stiles flips through a book that once belonged to Derek’s mother. Their cell phones are lying on the coffee table, both ringers turned down. The only noises are the sound of rain hitting the wall of windows and Stiles’ phone vibrating against the cheap wood.

Stiles sets his box of beef and broccoli down before reaching for his phone, entering the security code, and scanning the text before dropping the phone next to Derek’s. The alpha doesn’t know why he does it but he grabs Stiles’ phone before the screen locks and starts reading through the contacts. He still doesn’t recognize most of them, including his own, so he flicks through the text messages because Stiles is writing notes on a pad of blue post-its.

When Derek finally finds the string of text messages between himself and the teenager, he snorts, drops the phone in Stiles’ lap, and stands to start cleaning up their dinner. Stiles looks from the book in his hand to the illuminated phone screen, mutters ‘ _shit_ ’, and pads after the Derek into the kitchen.

“Padfoot,” is all Derek says and Stiles looks like he might faint.

“It’s a Harry Potter reference.”

“I’ve read Harry Potter, Stiles. I just don’t know why I’m Padfoot. Or why Scott’s Moony.”

“Because reasons. Scott was bit but he can’t shift into a full wolf and/or canine, so he’s like Lupin.” Stiles lifts himself onto the counter, eyes cast down. “You’re Sirius because you can.”

Derek places the leftovers in the fridge before leaning against the counter across from Stiles. The teen runs his hands through his hair, longer now than Derek has ever seen, before catching Derek’s hazel eyes in an apologetic smile.

“I can’t use everyone’s real name. My dad doesn’t know about you or the betas or the Alpha pack. He doesn’t know what Peter did or how Jackson was the kanima. He doesn’t know that Gerard was the one who assaulted me or that Scott’s mom watched her son get shot in the stomach. This is how I protect him.”

“Okay.” Derek pauses before tilting his head towards the clock on the microwave; there’s still time before Isaac is supposed to be back from following a lead. “How do you know I can shift into a wolf?”

“Allison sent Lydia a bestiary from France last week,” Stiles addresses the floor before looking up. “She got bored and translated four pages. I still don’t know why Scott can’t, though.”

“It’s something only certain werewolves can do.”

“Because they’re alphas?”

“Yes. Or because they were born that way.”

There’s a pause and Derek admires the way Stiles’ expression shifts as his brain puts the pieces together. He gasps and gapes at Derek with his mouth wide open before slamming his palms against the counter. The alpha walks back to the couch and Stiles comes bounding after him.

They spend the next two hours facing each other on the couch, Derek telling stories about Laura that he hasn’t thought about since he was in New York. It’s the most he’s talked about his sister since Peter killed her; it’s terrifyingly easy to tell Stiles about his family. Halfway through the conversation _Killer Queen_ starts playing and Stiles silences his phone.

By one, he’s drifting, leaning mostly against the couch. Derek nudges him awake, frowns when Stiles moans and slumps forward into his chest. The teen wakes up the moment his forehead comes into contact with the stubble on Derek’s neck and he pulls away just enough to apologize and flush pink. The alpha notices caramel eyes flick towards his lips and then his own hazel, registers the shift in the air, how the son of the Sheriff holds his breath before leaning forward to kiss him.

It’s chaste and cautious. Derek doesn’t move, doesn’t indulge although he wants to. Stiles takes that as a signal for _try harder_ and balls his fists in the man’s shirt. Derek pushes him away the moment Stiles' tongue glides across the seam of his lips.

“Stiles.”

“Don’t.”

“Stiles-"

“Just, don’t. I’ll leave.”

“You’re sixteen.”

“It’s fine. Look, I promised my dad I’d help him with something tomorrow, so I’ll come by next week with whatever I’ve found.”

“You don’t have to with school starting.”

“It’s fine.”

Stiles grabs his phone before slipping out of the loft and sliding the door closed behind him. Derek listens for his pulse until he can’t hear it anymore and the sound of rain eclipses everything. He shucks off his jeans before crawling beneath his comforter and ignoring the way his lips taste like oily Chinese food.

Isaac doesn’t come home that night, or the next, or the day after that. Derek tries tracking his scent but it disappears in three different directions. Peter’s not much help but he placates Derek and follows the beta’s scent through town and out to the Preserve only for it to double back.

Derek’s phone blows up on the Thursday, the first day of Isaac’s junior year. He ignores the calls from Melissa McCall, whose number he only has because Stiles put it in his phone, because he’s tracking Deucalion. Scott calls him as the alpha of Alphas enters the hospital and the call goes ignored.

By the time Derek has carried Isaac into the shambles of his former home, he already feels guilty for not answering when Melissa called. Scott has a chance at a normal life now and Derek wants him to have that because he never had the chance. Instead, Scott calls Stiles and tells him to come to Derek’s house.

It’s awkward but Scott doesn’t notice a thing, not how Derek’s eyes linger on Stiles as he readies to hold his best friend down or how Stiles returns it. When Scott passes out from the pain, Stiles moves to stand next to the alpha. They don’t talk about what happened. Stiles just says he hasn’t found anything and then Scott’s gasping awake.

\- - -

Everything that could go wrong does. They find Boyd and Cora, then Erica’s lifeless body. The Alphas barge into the loft and Kali shoves a metal pipe through Derek’s chest. Deucalion goes on about how it feels to absorb the power of those you are meant to lead, how Derek will be thrilled with the surge and kill his pack because he’ll love the rush. Kali rips the pole from where his body has desperately been trying to heal and it’s still a dark purple mar when Isaac comes home that night. Ten minutes later Derek’s yelling at him to leave.

He does it to keep his beta safe, to distance him because the Alphas have made it clear they want Derek to join their ranks.

Cora is in Isaac’s room, her room now, pacing. It’s still pouring when Derek’s phone goes off, the name on the screen one he hasn’t seen in two weeks.

“What do you want, Stiles?”

“What the fuck were you thinking? Scott just called me and said you threw a glass at Isaac and kicked him out. He _walked_ to Scott’s in the rain. Have you seen the storm outside?”

“This doesn’t concern you.”

“What the hell are you talking about? You exiled your last beta, Derek.”

“I have Cora to worry about.”

“You know what his father did to him. You’ve seen the freezer. Isaac flipped shit today because the twins locked him in a _closet_. He hurt-"

“Stiles, stop.”

“What is with you? Look, I just got to Scott’s. He said Isaac looks broken. You need to explain-"

“I don’t need to explain shit to you,” Derek snaps. “You’re not my beta, you’re not part of my pack.”

“Derek-"

“No, tell me why I should explain myself when you haven’t told Scott what you did all summer.”

“What?” Stiles’ voice hitches over the line and the thunder booms outside. “What does that have to do-”

“Scott had no idea I didn’t live at the house anymore even though the county took it _months_ ago. Which means you haven’t told him what you’ve been up to.”

“I-"

“He didn’t know about the Alpha pack or Boyd and Erica. We both know you can’t keep your mouth shut for more than ten minutes, so why doesn’t Scott know you were helping me?” The other end of the line is silent. “Stay out of this. It doesn’t concern you. You’re _human_.”

The sound cuts out, the call time and default picture for all contacts flashing on the screen. Derek throws his phone onto his bed before collapsing to the floor at the foot, holding his face in his hands.

It’s the only way. The Alphas are his problem. Stiles _isn’t_ pack, he’s not, but his allegiance with Derek is going to get him killed. Pushing him away, calling him on the weakness he hates, perpetuating the insecurity he confided in Derek months ago over a mouthful of cupcake; it’s the only way.

Stiles doesn’t deserve to pay for his failures.

\- - -

He shouldn’t pursue his relationship with Jennifer the way he does. When he dropped by the school the a few days after the English teacher became witness to the existence of werewolves, he had just meant to make sure she wasn’t going to have anxiety attacks. When she holds the pointer in front of her, Derek finds it ironically hilarious. So he smiles, hears the way her heart flutters a bit when he gives her his name, feels oddly less tense when she gives him hers in return.

Derek shouldn’t want to see her but he does. It’s selfish and reckless. Cora chews him out after their first date, coffee at some bakery downtown. Peter, for all his aloofness towards Derek’s personal life, warns him to be careful. Isaac is mostly confused and Boyd doesn’t care.

Between weekly skirmishes with the Alphas, the continuing sacrifices, and trying to keep the pack alive, Derek doesn’t seem to notice Stiles’ absence. The loft no longer holds his scent and all Scott offers is that his best friend has been spending a lot of time with Lydia. Derek doesn’t comment because it’s not his place to judge who the teenager associates with.

The first night Jennifer visits the loft, Cora is waiting on the couch, preening at the chance to interrogate the woman her brother comes home smelling of. Derek warns her to be nice and Cora flashes amber irises at him. The teacher ducks into the kitchen and mumbles out gibberish to calm herself; Derek kisses her forehead and Cora growls from the living room.

It’s nice having someone who doesn’t know what it’s like to deal with werewolves on a daily basis. She doesn’t look at the alpha like he’s damaged; she’s not from Beacon Hills, she doesn’t know about Kate or the fire. Jennifer is sweet and kind, goes on tangents about Faulkner and Hemingway in the middle of her thoughts. When she catches herself deviating she always apologizes and it makes Derek smile.

Derek kisses her on the mouth one month into their relationship. She sighs against him, returns it softly, because she’s been waiting for him to do this for weeks.

Jennifer doesn’t kiss like Kate. The huntress was quick hands and bruised lips, dominant and driving. She made Derek’s mouth bleed once but he didn’t care because he was sixteen and about to get laid by a woman six years his elder.

She doesn’t kiss like Erica, all teeth and tongue and anger. The beta had jumped him to show she could throw him off guard, and for three seconds, he kissed back. But Erica was sixteen, riding the post-bite high for as long as she could, inexperienced and young and not thinking of the consequences. A few days later she said she regretted it because Boyd wouldn’t have the pleasure of earning her first kiss.

She doesn’t kiss like Stiles either. The comparison is biased, because Stiles, and Erica for that matter, kissed him once. But it feels different. Stiles had been intent on proving he wasn’t a child when he tasted like rice and broccoli. Jennifer is carefree and tastes like cantaloupe because it’s nine in the morning on a Sunday and she surprised Derek with fresh fruit and tea.

No sooner does he find himself actually being able to relax around her than does Kali kidnap her. It’s a ploy, to get Derek to send his betas into battle, to wind Scott up because Miss Blake pushes him to be an excellent student. Deucalion watches from the roof of the abandoned building the Alphas inhabit, twirling his cane between his fingers, before he snaps and Kali’s eyes glow red from the darkened balcony below.

Derek allows himself one last bout of selfishness and decides to head into the building even though he knows Deucalion is baiting him. His betas understand the unspoken command to follow him in and nod, all of them casting a glance towards Scott and his pack.

Scott’s all fangs and red eyes but tilts his head before he flies toward Aiden with his claws out. Behind him, Lydia is swirling Erlenmeyer flasks full of sulfuric acid in her hands, Stiles drawing circles around them in three powders Derek doesn’t recognize, muttering words until the innermost circle sparks green. Allison is invisible though the telltale flashes of light meant to stun and sound of arrows slicing the air indicate she’s there. Danny, who Derek understands to only be present because he’s dating Ethan, has his hands wrapped around the hilt of a sword, the blade pointed at the less violent of the twins.

They’ll be fine.

Derek rushes in and up the desecrated building, Boyd and Isaac at his heels while Cora and Peter climb the stairs at another corner to get to Deucalion. The alpha smells blood three floors above, then a scream, and Kali’s smooth voice taunting him.

He’s half shifted by the time he finds the female alpha and Jennifer. Kali licks the blood off her black nails, laughs, hovers over Jennifer as she tightens the grip around her throat.

“She’d make a gorgeous beta, Derek. You should have turned her. But here she is, human. Fragile beings, aren’t they.”

“Derek!”

“Honey, don’t shout.” Kali tightens her grip until the teacher’s skin sinks beneath claws and Derek roars. “You won’t kill your betas, you drove them away, you abandoned your _family_ , Hale. So why bring her into this?”

Isaac and Boyd rush at Kali, savage in the way they lunge across the room. The woman just smirks, drops her hand, and steps towards the balcony before saying ‘ _Come get me, pups_ ’. Derek yells and his betas disappear, the building shaking as something explodes. He rushes to Jennifer, who pulls her arm out of his grip when he tries to help her.

“What did she do?”

“Snapped my humerus in two,” Jennifer says, exasperated and tinged with pain. “She knew where I lived.”

“We need to get you out of here. Now, while there’s a distraction. Let me see your arm, I won’t touch you after that.” Derek flinches when the woman he’s supposed to protect raises her left arm and he can see where the bone cracked. He pulls discomfort from her, doesn’t watch for her reaction when his veins go black, all the while listening for where the Alphas are. “Let’s go.”

By the time they’re at the ground floor, the bricks start to crumble and somewhere above, an entire floor collapses. Derek can smell fire and blood and pain. He ushers Jennifer down an adjacent alley, relieved when he can find every heartbeat of his pack and Scott’s. The teacher is quiet now, like the shock has finally set in, and needs prompting when Derek opens the door to the Toyota for her.

The drive to the hospital never seems to end. They catch all the red lights and every time Derek feels worse and worse until he rubs a hand across his face. Jennifer is just staring straight ahead, wincing when they drive over a pothole or make too quick a turn.

“What am I supposed to tell them happened?” she finally asks, tucking hair behind her ear even though the rest is disheveled. “If you come in with me they’ll think-, they’ll think you did this.”

“Just ask for Melissa, Scott’s mom. She knows what’s going on, she’ll keep the police from asking too many questions.”

“Derek.”

“I’m sorry. I’m, I shouldn’t have dragged you into this. _Everyone_ around me gets hurt. You’re, you deserve better.”

“I knew what you were, Cora and Boyd made sure of that. I could have gotten out.” She pauses, unbuckles the seatbelt, and wiggles out of it without moving her left arm. “This isn’t the time. Go back, help Scott.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Me too.”

She smiles and the way her eyes crinkle, Derek can see the tears. Before he can say another word, she’s stepping through the automatic doors. The alpha speeds out of the ER drop-off and doesn’t look back.

\- - -

It’s another month and a half before they win, _really_ win. They kill Kali in a bloodbath reserved for horror movies. Ethan kills Aiden because his twin almost succeeds in biting Danny to use him as a pawn. Scott’s long since killed Ennis, absorbed his power to become an alpha himself. Peter strips Deucalion of most of his power, heals his body, becomes an alpha and _taunts_ the demon wolf before Derek can kill him.

He learns from Scott that the Sheriff arrests Morrell for the sacrifices in Beacon Hills. According to the teenager, she was planning on exchanging their lives for enough power to bring Deucalion and his wolves down on her own. Derek is relieved.

The packs, lines drawn between them only a year ago, coalesce, blend and bond and learn to trust one another because most of them are still in school. Peter leaves in late November with a note addressed to Derek and Cora that simply says he’s sorry for what he did to Laura and it’s best if he puts Beacon Hills behind him. Cora takes it to the kitchen of the loft, places it on the stove, and sets the paper on fire. Derek smiles at her and she returns it.

It takes little more than a subtle request for Cora to stay in Beacon Hills. Derek isn’t ready to lose her again and Cora, despite her dislike of the way he handled his pack in the beginning, doesn’t want to leave. They still have important conversations to have, need to heal, need to mourn Laura. Cora finds an apartment four blocks away, uses the life insurance Derek had been granted in her name, and pays for a year’s lease in cash.

The first week of December, Derek, Isaac, Boyd and Cora head to the graveyard the Lahey’s once managed. The entire northeast corner is filled with members of the Hale family, though Cora’s headstone is now missing. In its place is a shiny granite block with _Erica Reyes_ cut into the stone.

They could bring her back if they wanted to. Peter did it, just waited for the Worm Moon and found someone with enough intrinsic power to make the magic work. Derek wants to some days, because as much sass as she spoke to him with, he misses it; he knows Boyd does too. But bringing Erica back would be as selfish as killing her themselves so Derek buries her amongst his family because that’s what she was.

Isaac forgives him in time, moves back into the loft, hugs Derek one day without warning. He doesn’t apologize or try to explain himself because his beta understands. Derek ruffles the teen’s curls and tells him to get Boyd to start coming by.

Winter break starts for Isaac with a snow storm. Derek tries calling his cell three times before giving up and calling Scott. When the younger alpha’s voicemail recording comes over the speaker, Derek sighs, debates whether to call his faithful sidekick, and bites the bullet.

He finds _Stiles Stilinski_ in his contacts, changed because they aren’t friends and the Alphas are gone, and hits send. Some robotic voice says please enjoy and there’s a horrid, cacophonous sound blaring from the phone. Derek pulls it away from his ear, not caring for the woman who’s asking him why he’s being a dickhead. Before the clip can start again, it cuts out and bitter laughter rumbles over the line.

“Was Kate Nash not enough of a clue?”

“You honestly expect me to know who that is.”

“What do you want?” Stiles sounds thoroughly annoyed; he has the right considering the last time they spoke was the night Deucalion died and Stiles told Derek he was glad he wouldn’t have to see his ~~pretty~~ stupid face anymore.

“Do you know where Isaac is?”

“Aw, you lost your baby beta?,” the teen sniggers. “Have you tried calling him?”

“No, my first instinct was to call the only pain in my ass I could think of.”

“Oh, you’re finally acknowledging me then.”

“Stiles-" he starts but stops; it’s been long enough that Stiles shouldn’t still be holding a grudge. “I tried him and then Scott. It’s fine, it’s not important.”

“He’s probably with him, Allison, and Lydia. They were talking about going to see a movie at lunch yesterday.” Stiles clicks his tongue once, like he’s contemplating whether it’s worth explaining, and pushes on. “They had plans with Boyd.”

“And you weren’t invited?” It’s meant to be spiteful but the alpha is actually curious why the kid is at home the first Saturday of winter break. “McCall finally tired of you?”

“Dude, not that you care, but I’ve been grounded since we killed Kali. My dad didn’t appreciate me showing up in the ER with a broken leg and claw marks pierced into my wrists.”

Derek remembers. Aiden had held Stiles down while Ethan forced Scott to watch the female alpha snap his best friend’s tibia with just the heel of her foot. Derek and his betas could hear the screams a block away where they were chasing Deucalion and Morrell. By the time they had returned, Allison was helping Stiles into the front seat of Lydia’s car. The teen had been pale and quiet, heart racing, normal scent eclipsed under pain and blood. He had glanced at Derek for just a moment before the strawberry blond had yelled for Scott to get in.

Stiles had been in a cast the night they killed the alpha of Alphas. Isaac said Deaton had given him enough painkillers to numb everything. Derek didn’t believe him.

“You told him everything.”

“Kind of hard not to when Melissa was scheduling radiographs for me and Dad was screaming at Scott.”

“You should have told him a year ago.”

“Thanks, dick. Like I need you lecturing me too.”

Derek slumps onto the couch and decides he needs to rearrange the room again. No wonder Isaac never sat facing forward: he was staring directly where his alpha slept.

“How are you doing?”

“Are you asking because you want to know or because you feel guilty for being an epic douche?”

“Either gives you a reason to ramble on and piss me off, so you can pick.”

Stiles launches into how being grounded sucks and this is really all Derek’s fault for never letting him know it was alright to tell Scott about the Alphas in the beginning. At first he comes off as uncaring and harsh, and if he was in the room, Derek could probably smell the annoyance in his tone. Then half an hour has passed, Derek asks a question, and Stiles laughs.

They don’t talk about Jennifer or Derek’s previous relationship with her. They don’t talk about Stiles kissing him before junior year. They don’t talk about Erica even though Derek wants to. Instead, Stiles tells the alpha all about what Deaton calls his _spark_.

Two hours pass and Stiles shouts ‘ _oh_ ’ before asking what happened to the Camaro.

“It was the only thing that still smelled vaguely like Erica and it bothered Isaac.”

“Did you get rid of it?”

“No, it’s in the warehouse.”

“Huh,” Stiles says and Derek can imagine him licking his lips like he’s so prone to do. “You should give it to Boyd.”

\- - -

Mending whatever his relationship with the Sheriff’s son is seems to improve everyone’s attitude. Boyd, who’s reluctance to visit the loft was unsettling, thanks Derek on Christmas Eve when the alpha hands him the keys to the Camaro and says to take care of it. Isaac whines and Derek grins because it’s a habit he’s slowly been developing since moving back to the loft. Scott says it means he’s comfortable.

A week after New Year’s, he and Isaac have been recruited by Cora to go shopping to furnish her apartment even though she’s lived there for a month and a half. They’ve been in Target for an hour, Derek feeling out of place while pushing the cart. Isaac is on about this and that, complaining that he’s supposed to be hanging out with Scott and Stiles. Although Stiles insists the beta doesn’t like him and that the feeling is mutual, Derek knows it’s a load of bullshit.

Isaac likes everyone. Except Peter. But no one likes Peter except Peter.

The alpha is staring at a display of bed pillows, looking utterly domestic when he catches a scent he spent two months doused in. It’s followed by a familiar heartbeat and then Jennifer is rounding the corner of the aisle, head down as she skims something on her phone. When she finally looks up, she jumps a little and Derek offers a shy smile.

“Derek!”

“Jennifer.”

“And Mr. Lahey.”

“Hey, Miss Blake. How have you been?” Isaac smiles and leans against the end of the cart so it presses into Derek’s hip.

“Good, good. Coming up with next semester’s lesson plan. You’re transferring into my class if I’m not mistaken,” she replies, tucking hair behind her ear; it’s a nervous habit Derek noticed during their first date. “I’m looking forward to having the entire pack.”

“Boyd’s got Keller for his English class, but it’s most of us.” Isaac’s phone starts vibrating and he pulls it from his back pocket before apologizing. “I’m going to be in electronics, Derek. It was nice seeing you, Miss Blake!”

“You too, Isaac.”

Isaac shoots Derek a snarky grin before answering the phone and the alpha can hear Lydia’s voice mumbling from the speaker. Jennifer is smiling with practiced grace, hand clutched around the cart handle, the other wringing a sleeve of the hoodie she’s wearing with her graduate alma mater’s logo on it. Derek’s seen her dressed down many times but she seems too nervous now compared to what her wardrobe reflects.

“You look good,” she says, voice even while her heart races. “Scott said you took care of the Alphas.”

“We did. Both of us, both the packs. Everyone is good, safe finally.” Derek can hear Cora mumbling to herself a few aisles away, debating on which throw pillows will look the best with aqua walls. “Cora moved out and Isaac moved back in.”

“I was wondering. He and Scott are always in the halls together. Sometimes I think Stiles likes my class as much as he does now because he gets Scott all to himself.” The teacher laughs softly, trying to calm herself. “He didn’t like me for a few months. He and Lydia have the highest grades in the class, but he’s always been very brash about his opinions of humans and werewolves.”

“It’s probably my fault,” Derek admits, leaning against his, Cora’s cart. “He hates being reminded he’s human and humans break.”

“Trust me, Derek, I know.”

Jennifer sighs, cheeks still flushed as she glances around. Derek assumes it’s to note whether Isaac is on his way back or if any of the betas are roaming around. When she’s satisfied that no one is going to interrupt them, she turns to the alpha with intent.

“We never spoke after you dropped me at the hospital.”

“I didn’t think you would want to be pulled anymore into our world. It’s dangerous. _We’re_ dangerous.”

“What about Lydia and Allison? Or Danny? Or Stiles?”

“Allison’s family-"

“Derek! Which one do you like better?” Cora asked, coming halfway down the aisle with three pillows of varying patterns in green in her hands. “Oh. Hello, Jen.”

“Cora.”

“Der, I want your opinion.” Cora’s eyes barely glaze over Jennifer and Derek resists the urge to alpha his baby sister in front of his ex. “Isaac refuses to help.”

“Cora, now’s not the time.”

“It’s fine, Derek.” Lie. “Look, you still have my number, right? We’ll get coffee soon. This weekend, perhaps? School starts again on Monday but I’m sure I’ll be craving a caramel macchiato by Saturday.”

Derek just nods, feeling Cora’s glare intensify, eyes trained on Jennifer’s. She offers a polite goodbye before walking away. The alpha exhales loudly and then his sister smacks him in the head with one of the throw pillows.

“What were you doing talking to her?”

“Beacon Hills is smaller than LA or New York, Cora, we were going to run into each other eventually.”

“Whatever, you know I don’t like her. Now come, Isaac’s pretending to hide but Boyd is running commentary from Lydia’s house and says those two are shamelessly flirting over the phone. Scott doesn’t seem too pleased with it.” Cora’s phone buzzes and she smiles at her brother, tugging him by the sleeve. “C’mon, Der. I have money riding on this.”

“How are we related?”

“Please, if Laura was here, things would be ten times worse. She’d be on your case about-"

“Cora.”

“Not Jen, asshole.” Cora walks off with the pillows and Derek follows her, smiling because they’ve finally healed enough that talking about Laura doesn’t hurt like a knife to the chest.

It occurs to him later that Cora never says who Laura would have been on his case about.

\- - -

The guilt of bringing Jennifer into their world of werewolves and power crazed alphas and hunters weighs him down for three days until Derek calls her and they agree to have coffee so they can talk. Cora picks at him ruthlessly, warning him, fear in her tone though she hides it well. Isaac only makes one remark: ‘ _she’s nice Derek, she_ gets _us; don’t make her hate us because the pack will hate you_ ’. Derek comments that Scott and his pack aren’t synonymous with the Hale pack and Isaac rolls his eyes in a manner that mimics Peter.

At first it’s awkward and forced and Derek can smell the unease over freshly brewed coffee and warm bread. Jennifer mostly flits around the downward spiral of their relationship, how they were stupid to think it would work when lives were riding on Derek’s shoulders. Lives of his pack, Scott, the teenager’s pack of humans.

She tells him she could have loved him given different circumstances and she would have if the Alphas had never kidnapped her. She tells him, although he’s heard from Scott through Stiles, that her cover was that someone broke into her home, assaulted her, and he was the only person she could contact to get a ride. None of it sounds believable but, as Derek now knows, the Sheriff had already been under the assumption something supernatural was going on in the city he was tasked with protecting.

Derek has barely touched his coffee when Jennifer gets up to get another from one of the brewers in the back. He catches two distinctive scents when the bell to the front door chimes and his sister walks in, talking a mile a minute to the person behind her. The alpha expects it to be Isaac or Boyd, but then Stiles trips his way over the mat meant to collect snow from the street. Neither seem to notice Derek and Jennifer sits back down with an exhaustive sigh.

“Oh, look. Your sister and Mr. Stilinski are here.” It’s said in a sarcastic tone and Cora deserves to hear it. “They haven’t noticed us yet.”

“They will.” Derek turns around and finds Cora’s eyes gleaming at him, smirk wide as Stiles continues reading things from the board above the counter. When he does notice - Cora hits him - he looks confused, offers a half frown, and looks back at the board. Derek pretends not to hear the way his heart races.

“I thought you said Cora mainly associates with your betas.”

“She does.” Cora’s eyebrow is raised from where she’s reading something off Stiles’ phone. “I had no idea they even knew each other.”

“They look like they know each other pretty well, Derek,” the teacher says playfully as Stiles flushes red and swats Cora’s face away from his own. “Cora would be in the same grade with the rest of the pack if she was in school, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m rather disappointed I never got to see this side of you,” Jennifer says, taping at Derek’s cold cup of coffee with the fork she used to eat a piece of pumpkin bread. “Big brother Derek, all protective of his little sister and her male friends.”

“What?” Derek finally looks away from where his sister is ordering for both teenagers; Stiles has his face hidden in his hands.

“They’d be cute together.” Something flickers over the teacher’s face and she smiles sadly at her coffee. “I’m sorry, I’m overstepping, aren’t I?”

“No, it’s fine,” Derek replies, wrapping his hands around the cold ceramic mug. “We’re trying to be friends. Friends talk about things.”

“Like what?”

The alpha opens his mouth only to close it again. He hasn’t had a conversation with anyone over the age of eighteen in almost two months. Jennifer is smiling at him, kind, at ease like she used to. The bell chimes and Derek catches Cora snorting between choked laughter before the glass door closes.

“Derek?”

“I’m not sure. The last time I really talked to someone my age was when Laura was still alive.”

“In New York?”

“Yeah.”

“Well,” the brunette starts, pushing the plate with crumbs to the side so she can lean on her chin on her hands. “Let’s start with all the things we didn’t talk about while we were dating. Like your favorite book growing up.”

\- - -

When Derek arrives back at the loft that night, full from the coffee meeting that turned into dinner at one of Jennifer’s favorite restaurants, Cora is on him before he can even set his keys down. It’s reminiscent of the way Laura would get on his case whenever he came home smelling of other wolves in New York. Cora’s eyes turn gold when Derek says it’s none her damn business who he hangs out with. His sister throws her hands in the air, whips her cell phone out, and plops down on the couch.

“What were you even doing there?” Derek asks from the kitchen, setting a box of leftovers on the shelf of the refrigerator Isaac has filled with his own.

“I wanted coffee.”

“There are coffee places all over the city. There’s one around the corner from your apartment.”

“Stiles had an errand to run and I went with him. We were over on that side and I wanted coffee.” Cora looks up from where she’s typing on her phone and Isaac starts laughing from his room upstairs. “I’m an addict.”

“You’re a liar.”

“Whatever. Just because I know things about Stiles that you don’t does not make me a liar.”

“How do you two even know each other?”

“Seriously?” Cora scoffs and stands as Isaac comes trotting down the stairs, adjusting his scarf as he buttons his coat. “We’ve been friends for months. Who do you think I spent New Year's with?”

“Boyd.”

“And Scott, and Stiles, and me, and Allison, and Danny,” Isaac adds, handing Cora her coat from where it’s thrown over the bar stool to the table. “And Lydia.”

“You’ve got it bad, Isaac.” Cora slips her coat on, grabbing the beta by the hand as she heads to the front door. “Be nice to Stiles and stay away from Jennifer. I don’t trust her.”

\- - -

Derek doesn’t listen to Cora. He does the exact opposite, actually.

They become friends, get coffee and do adult things, go to bars on occasion so Jennifer can complain about the lack of appreciation teenagers have for _Crime and Punishment_ and Derek can talk about how insubordinate his mischief pack of outcasts are. It’s easy and feels a hell of a lot more right than dating did.

The brunette agrees, smiling and calm, heart no longer racing every time she spots the alpha wherever they are meeting for whatever reason. Derek enjoys her company and how she doesn’t constantly rag on him like the other women in his life do. Cora’s annoying in the way all siblings are. When he sees Lydia, she mostly sizes him up before finding something better to do. Allison has come to respect him as a person but knows she has the power to bring him to his knees and that part of her will always scare him for being so similar to Kate.

The packs blend with time. Stiles and Scott end up in the loft at least once a week under the premise of hanging out with Isaac, but the Sheriff’s son always finds a reason to spend time with Derek instead. They return to being friends, or whatever they were the summer before, before things got awkward and serious and lives fell apart.

Boyd, Cora, and Isaac are always together on weekends anyways, so it’s not surprising when the three of them show up together for a pack meeting the third Saturday in February. But then Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Allison, and Danny file in behind them. Lydia has her arm looped through Stiles’ as she tugs him towards the couch; Derek doesn’t notice the way her eyes follow his.

Scott offers a jovial wave before coming to stand by Derek. “Hey.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Pack meeting, bro. We were invited.”

“By who?”

“Me,” Isaac chirps before returning his attention back to Allison.

“You’re not pack. You’ve been saying you don’t want to be part of my pack since you were bit.”

“Majority rules, Derek.” Scott grins, wide and brilliant. “We all spend everyday together anyways. And it’s not like I’m trying to take your place as the alpha.”

“ _You’re_ an alpha. I’m not understanding why you want to merge.”

“Dude, how do you not get it yet?” Scott crosses his arms, leaning against one of the room’s support beams. “You told me once we were brothers.”

“That was a year ago.”

“Yeah, but it’s still valid. Me and Stiles, we’re family because he’s been my best friend since we were nine. Lydia and Allison and Danny, they’re fam because of what we’ve gone through. The same with Isaac and Boyd and Cora. We’ve all been through a horribly shitty year but we’re here, we’re alive.”

“And?”

“We’ve pretty much been one pack since the night you killed Deucalion. We were all just waiting for you to accept it. But Stiles was complaining the other day so Isaac invited us tonight.” Derek looks to the floor next to the couch where Danny is animatedly talking about space and Stiles is eating up every word. “So, what do you say?”

The alpha glances around the room. His betas are mixed with the rest of the teenagers. No one is at each other’s throats. In fact, they all seem relaxed.

It hits him that this is what being pack used to feel like. Cora looks up from where she’s reading something from Lydia’s tablet, mouths _c’mon Dee_ , and smiles. She reminds him of Laura and Derek says ' _alright_ ,' before Scott laughs and clasps his shoulder.

\- - -

Agreeing to be one pack turns out to just be an excuse for Stiles and the rest of the humans and werewolves to use the loft as a place to hang out. Scott, Isaac, and Boyd wear Derek down into finally getting a television just in time for March Madness and the alpha doesn’t care for the loud cheering. Stiles keeps him company in the kitchen when the betas, Cora, and Allison yell over poorly made calls.

He should expect it, the way Sheriff’s son digs his place back into Derek’s life like he hadn’t left the loft that night in August reeking rejection and disappointment. Stiles starts showing up without Scott on nights when Isaac’s out. Sometimes he’s in the company of Cora or Lydia. Other times it’s just him, food from Derek’s preferred Thai place, and books on _sparks_ and magic that he asks for help translating.

Derek learns the newly coded names and ringtones Stiles has assigned his betas. When he asks the teen why he hasn’t changed them back yet, he just shrugs. Derek doesn’t push and Stiles doesn’t elaborate.

Sometimes he gets the feeling Stiles might slip into old habits. On the days they don’t see each other, his phone is a flurry of text messages from the teen. The rest of the pack texts him too, but it’s Stiles to whom he always replies.

May comes and Derek has an epiphany. It’s not pretty, nor is it foreseeable, but it’s there.

Cora is quizzing Isaac, Scott, and Danny with chemistry equations on the couch while Lydia and Stiles are holed up in the kitchen. Next to them are three platefuls of various muffins; turns out Lydia is a stress baker. Derek is sitting at the kitchen table Boyd bought to replace its flimsy plastic predecessor, not sure what to do because his home has been taken over by chatty teenagers.

He’s reading a text message from Jennifer when something collides with the side of his head. A lone apple cinnamon muffin is now lying on the ground and everything smells like batter and a hint of allspice. From the counter, Stiles is pointedly concentrated on what Lydia is saying, swinging his feet in tandem with the tempo of whatever song Cora has streaming from the living room. Then caramel eyes glance his way and Stiles smiles with his whole body.

Derek watches the way he snickers into his shoulder, lips pulled so far back it almost looks painful, hands gripping the counter. Lydia stops explaining whatever she’s talking about to kick the teen in the calf. Stiles laughs to himself once more, cheeks dusted the lightest tint pink, and holds his hands in front of his chest. The strawberry blonde takes that as a sign to continue.

He catches the Stiles watching him every so often that entire afternoon. He could call him on it, should, because Stiles is still very much illegal. Instead, Derek smiles at him when his back is turned, shoves the muffin into one of the interior pockets of the teen’s backpack, and delights in watching a heavy textbook squash the quickbread down when Stiles and the rest of the pack decide one more dinner out before finals is called for.

\- - -

It’s been ten months since Derek found out Cora was still alive when she comes barreling into the loft and demands access to the freezer.

“Der, it’s critical.”

“Yeah, _Der_ , critical.”

Stiles is right behind his sister, wearing a shit eating grin that rivals his favorite beta’s. Derek still isn’t sure how he and Cora became friends in the first place but now they are together once a week, whispering to each other, smirking for reasons Derek doesn’t want to know. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that Cora is barely older than Stiles and that they would have been in school together if the fire had never occurred.

“What do you want?”

“Ice cream. I’m out and Stiles and I were going to gossip and talk about you behind your back.”

“Yes, those things.” Stiles smiles and sinks down onto the couch while Cora disappears to the kitchen. “We didn’t think you’d be home. Isn’t it weekly bonding time with the betas?”

“What are you talking about?” Derek moves from desk to sit on the coffee table and shove the teen’s feet off from where they’re dirtying a coaster.

“For the past three weeks, you, Isaac, Boyd, and Scott have been pack bonding and us humans-“

“And me!” Cora shouts.

“And Cora haven’t been invited. Rude.”

“It’s a wolf thing.”

“It’s you being a douche,” Cora says before slipping out the door with an pint of ice cream and a spoon in her mouth.

Derek rolls his eyes and looks to Stiles who is staring at the door confused. “Shouldn’t you be following her?”

“I have no idea. She’s as hard to keep up with as Lydia.”

“Cora’s-" Derek starts but then _Invincible_ is screaming from Stiles’ pocket until he accepts the call.

“Where did you go?” the teen asks, staring at where Derek’s bed is now in the room with the knocked down wall. “I don’t know.”

The alpha can hear his sister’s voice over the speaker, playful and teasing. Stiles is rambling now, tapping out some beat against the armrest. He takes a quick look at Derek before chuckling.

“I’ll text you later.” A pause, then the kid flushes and his pulse rockets. “Oh my god, stop.”

Stiles hits the red phone icon and shoves his phone in his jacket before sighing. He makes a move to stand but Derek stops him.

“Change her ringtone.”

“What?”

“Change it. I don’t care what to, just do it.”

“You let me get away with setting yours as 'Black Hole Sun' last year, but Ok Go is ok no?” Stiles smirks at his own comment, snickering until he notices the alpha is glaring. “What is your problem?”

“Kate used to love that song.”

“Why do you know what songs Allison’s aunt used to like?” Derek moves to the middle of the couch, rubbing a hand through his beard. “How-"

“I just do.”

“Derek,” Stiles starts and it seems to click. “ _Derek_.”

“The only person I’ve told was Laura.”

“And Cora?”

“Cora guessed and when I started to tell her the truth she didn’t want to hear it.”

“Peter?”

“He knew. My sisters had suspicions but I didn’t tell Laura until we moved to New York.”

“You don’t have to tell me.”

“We’re friends,” Derek says, voice soft.

“How, what happened?”

Derek tells him _everything_. How he met Kate, how she wrapped him around her finger, how he lost his virginity in some sleazy motel one county north and his wolf had hated it. At some point in the conversation, Stiles shifts closer and Derek leans into him. When the alpha starts revealing what happened the day of the fire, he slumps across the teen’s lap, finding comfort in the way the he runs his fingers through his hair.

“It’s not your fault,” Stiles finally says, fingers halting their movement through Derek’s hair.

“But it is. Laura warned me about dating people who didn’t know what we were. Cora hated her on principle. They only knew her scent and they _hated_ it. My mother-“ Derek pauses, exhaling as his hand clenches into a fist against his thigh. “Peter and Cora didn’t Like Jennifer for the same reasons.”

“Miss Blake is awesome but can we please not talk about the fact you dated her because it’s weird and I don’t like it.”

“Stiles-"

“It’s not your fault,” he repeats, cautiously placing a hand over Derek’s. “Kate was batshit crazy. She would have found a way to set your house on fire even if she hadn’t seduced you.”

“I let her.”

“Derek, stop. Stop blaming yourself. It’s been eight years. You and Laura survived. Cora survived and she lives ten minutes away from you now. Peter survived, I guess, well. Peter doesn’t count.” Stiles sighs. “You’ve been carrying this for too long.”

“It’s all I know.”

Derek sinks further down into Stiles’ lap, covers his eyes with the back of his arm, and just lays there. Stiles resumes carding his fingers through his hair. The weight, the guilt, lessens a bit because he has finally told someone other than family what happened.

Laura had blamed him at first, Cora as well. With time they came to the same conclusion as Stiles: Kate would have found another way. And although his older sister is gone now, his younger one is _alive_ and safe.

Stiles pushes Derek’s arm out of the way after a while, waiting for the alpha to open his eyes. When he does, the teen leans down and kisses him. Derek doesn’t pull away this time. He should, because Stiles is barely seventeen, but he wraps a hand behind the back of the kid’s neck and squeezes, memorizing the way he tastes like coffee and apricots.

The next time Stiles’ phone goes off and Cora’s codename, _Persephone_ , flashes across the screen, _The Girl Got Hot_ starts playing and Derek regrets ever letting Isaac create Pandora stations for him.

\- - -

Stiles makes it his personal mission to convey what he wants Derek to do to him via ringtones in the proceeding months. The alpha refuses to let anything progress beyond kissing; Stiles says it’s alright because he now knows about Derek’s relationship with Kate and how he had been Stiles’ age when it began. It doesn’t mean Stiles will be silent about what he wishes would happen.

The teen tells him he’s been the same song, _Basically, I_ , since the last summer, which is astounding because Scott and the Sheriff’s ringtones change every few months. Lydia and Danny are the only two whose songs never do; _Killer Queen_ fits the strawberry blonde to a ‘t’ and Stiles considers it an honor bestowing _The Son of Flynn_ on Danny. Scott’s is now _Howlin’ For You_ because of an inside joke Stiles never gets around to explaining. Isaac is _Bron-Y-Aur Stomp_ and Derek thinks it’s perfect. Boyd is _Run Boy Run_ because Stiles secretly admires the beta. Allison, who most frequently calls the teen in order to chat about school, has been assigned _Wrong Girl_ because ‘ _Allison could maim me and make it look like a work of art_ ’. Stiles apologizes two minutes later because Kate could have done the same and kisses Derek on the lips quickly before disappearing out of the loft, already calling Lydia.

At first the songs he chooses are things that even on a bad day would still be subtle. _Sail_ , because Stiles likes the chorus and it mentions something similar to the ADHD he’s been slowly growing out of. Next it’s _Robot Boy_ , because it’s Stiles way of saying he understands Derek is still healing. It’s followed by _Swing Life Away_ , _Safe and Sound_ , then _Wonderwall_ , which speaks for itself. They’re implicitly caring.

The tone changes when Stiles switches his ringtone to _Paralyzer_. It’s after the first night Stiles pleads with Derek to mark him up, to leave something on his body as a reminder that they are actually _something_. The alpha bites one bruise into his neck that can be hidden with hoodies or Lydia’s expert make-up skills.

Scott has words with Derek that week and Isaac, milling in the kitchen as the alphas discuss how to split time with the son of the Sheriff like he’s a timeshare, barely contains his laughter. Half an hour later, Cora, Allison, and Lydia burst into the loft. Allison threatens Derek with an arrow to the head and she’s shown enough prowess with a bow than to ever doubt her skills. Cora makes Derek tell her when their relationship started and drops the hint that she knew when Derek and Jennifer were going to get coffee back in January and brought Stiles along with her to make him jealous. Lydia just stares him down with her arms crossed and lips pursed before saying ‘ _I don’t like you. Hurt him and I’ll castrate you_.’

The pack knows, knew, without them sharing. Isaac confesses in the middle of that week’s pack meeting to walking in on them in the kitchen one morning and Cora says they couldn’t reek of each other more even if they were fucking. Stiles goes red, hides behind Lydia, and she just smirks, like she knew it all along. Scott gives Derek the “best friends talk” and the alpha listens as the teen describes in vivid detail how he will eviscerate him in ways Deaton says he’s only seen hunters do.

He hopes he’ll never be in a situation that involves hurting Stiles but Derek makes a mental note to fear the other alpha if it ever happens.

The next song is worse. _Bad Dog_ is everything Derek dislikes about dog jokes; they’re _werewolves_ for christ’s sake. Stiles sings the song even when his phone isn’t ringing, hums it until it’s ingrained in the alpha’s brain. Scott yells at his best friend in a tone that is anything but threatening during one of their pack meetings and Lydia collapses into a fit of laughter.

Jennifer finds the situation hilarious and tells Derek she catches Stiles humming the song to himself while the class is supposed to be reading _Catch-22_. The alpha doesn’t know which is worse: that his ex approves of his relationship with the underage son of the Sheriff or that she seems to be on Stiles’ side. She says that it’s what the _kids_ do these days and even though she’s only a few years older than he is, it makes Derek feel ancient compared to the teen.

The monstrosity of _Bad Dog_ is first only to _Buttons_. Derek doesn’t even think Stiles is trying anymore. What was once endearing on a completely Stiles-balanced scale has become a full blown annoyance. The alpha could go the rest of his life without hearing those pitchy Pussycat women singing with Snoop Dog - yeah, Stiles, _really_ subtle. The teen doesn’t even care.

When he starts counting down the days to his 18th birthday, Derek grows wary. Stiles has stopped attempting nonchalance. Scott finds it scarring and hilarious at the same time. Isaac has stopped trying to conceal his laughter and almost cries one day because _Turn Me On_ interrupts a serious debate between himself and the human over which Left 4 Dead is the best.

The closer April comes, the less stringent with the kissing only rules Derek gets. Stiles straddles his lap on the couch in the loft one night, tongue licking into his mouth, making delicious noises as the alpha’s hands slip beneath the hem of his shirt. When he pulls away, eyelids heavy, eyes almost a hazy gold, Derek just leans forward to catch him another kiss. The teen groans into it, fingers tugging at black hair until it hurts. Then his phone goes off, _In the Hall of the Mountain King_ blaring, and Stiles pries his hands away from Derek to dig in his back pocket for his phone.

Derek litters kisses across the teen’s neck, nipping at his Adam’s apple, tracing his tongue across the freckles on his jaw. Stiles barely makes it through the conversation with his father and cuffs the alpha in the temple. The man kisses him before standing, holding Stiles beneath his thighs, tightening his grip when the teen hooks his legs around his waist. He sucks on Stiles’ tongue as the kid grinds his hips down, moaning at the friction. Derek groans himself, dumps him on his bed, and revels in the way Stiles looks thoroughly debauched. He then apologizes before walking away, heading to bathroom.

Stiles calls him a ‘ _fucking tease_ ’ before storming out of the loft. Isaac yells his praises from the room upstairs and Derek flinches because he forgot the beta was there. He can hear the Jeep’s ball bearings pop as the Sheriff’s son drives off and knows he’ll be paying later.

Three hours later, _Babel_ , some song Derek has heard twenty times because ‘ _learn to love them, babe_ ,’, rings. When the alpha answers, all he can hear is Stiles breathing and he wonders where the Jeep broke down this time. Then there’s a hitch of breath and the kid mewls over the phone. Before Derek can even speak, Stiles is whining out his name.

Derek hangs up and when _Babel_ rings four minutes later, he ignores it. Cora lets herself into the loft an hour after that, throws her phone at her brother, and stomps back out. Stiles' laughter is loud over the tiny speaker and the alpha rolls his eyes when the other says ‘ _that’s what you deserve, asshole_ ’ and the line cuts out.

\- - -

Spring break comes in the middle of March and with it a week free of pack and teenagers and drama. Isaac is the only one who’s in Beacon Hills. He elected to stay home while Allison, Scott, Lydia, Boyd, Stiles, and Danny are spending the week in Washington. Boyd chose the destination and no one argued because his fascination with killer whales means whale watching. Isaac’s never handled boats well and had no aspirations to spend the week trying not to vomit.

Derek can hear someone moving around upstairs but then it stops and he listens for the beta’s heartbeat. It’s slow, lulling and calm. The alpha is curious if he’s heard from Lydia if they had arrived; they’ve been dating for a few months now and Isaac has never seemed more at ease. Instead of yelling, Derek pulls his phone from his back pocket and calls the first person in his recent calls list. A picture of Stiles sleeping on the couch lights up the screen.

Somewhere in the apartment someone curses and _Fever_ starts playing. It’s a walk in the park compared to _(You Drive Me) Crazy_ , Stiles’ latest ringtone ID for him; it’s less unsettling than even _Something About Us_. Stiles spent the entire month of February dancing around the topic of their relationship and what they were. There had never been a formal ‘ _Will you go out with me_ ' and ‘ _YES_ ’. They weren’t together and then they were.

Derek listened to the entire song one afternoon Stiles and Cora had commandeered his kitchen, determined to master the craft of making buttercream frosting. While he stared at the open Macbook, internet open to a list of realtors in New York that he finally felt ready to contact about selling the apartment he and Laura had shared, Daft Punk had played in the background. Stiles had plopped down next to him on the sofa, features soft when he recognized the song, and focused on licking the beater meant for Derek clean of frosting. The alpha had set his computer to the side, whispered ‘ _I love you_ ’ into the hollow of the teen’s neck, and stolen the beater. Stiles tackled him to the ground as he stepped into the kitchen and Cora rolled her eyes before calling them idiots.

The alpha turns around to Stiles walking into the kitchen, fingers pressing the outline of his phone in his jeans. Derek watches then realizes things are wrong.

“Shh, I just got Isaac down for a nap.”

“What are you doing here?” Derek sets his phone down, arms already reaching for Stiles to confirm he’s there.

“You couldn’t hear me?”

“No. Stiles, you’re supposed to be in Seattle. Why-“

“You can’t smell me either?” Stiles' grin widens and Derek growls.

“No. What did you do?”

“Don’t worry, Der. It’s just something Deaton suggested I try out in case any more demon wolves come through good ole’ BH.” The teen pulls his sleeves up to his forearms to reveal two clear tubes around each wrist filled with black powder. “It’s mountain ash mixed with hybridized strain of wolfsbane.”

“That’s why I can’t hear your heart?”

“Yep! And this,” Stiles pulls the collar of his jacket down to reveal another tube, “would be why you can’t smell me.”

“Take them off.”

“Or what? You going to rip them off with your teeth?”

“Amongst other things,” Derek quips back, already stepping forward to follow the teen out into the main room.

“Come get me then, big bad.”

\- - -

Stiles’ eighteenth birthday falls on a Thursday and much to his displeasure, he says he can’t spend the night with Derek because of family dinner with the Sheriff and the McCalls. Derek understands; he’s waited ten months, one more day won’t kill him. He’s surprised when Stiles asks if he’ll join them because he’s never formally been introduced to his father as the boyfriend. Only ‘ _that slightly sketchy older dude that Scott and I and the rest of the pack certainly do not hang out with all the time or have keys to his apartment_ ’ and ‘ _we’re all friends now, put the gun down, dad. He’s an alpha but not one of the ones who ran amok last year_ ’.

It’s awkward but not. Derek and the Sheriff have gotten on _okay_ since the Alphas disparaged half the station with tampered evidence. The man doesn’t pull any of his guns from all their hiding places, six on the first floor to be exact. Scott ribs at the other alpha for acting too comfortable and Melissa scolds him like he’s her own. Stiles is jittery until Derek links their fingers underneath the dinner table.

Before Stiles can follow him out to the Toyota, the Sheriff stops him with a curled finger. Derek finds himself in the kitchen with a shotgun laid across the counter and Stiles’ father thanking him for sending his son home with ‘ _all those lovely bruises_ ’. Before the alpha can say anything, the man holds a hand up, lightens his tone, and says he will not hesitate to shoot him if Stiles ever comes home with another broken leg. It triggers all the memories of screaming and blood and Derek blurts out that he loves Stiles, will do everything in his power to always keep him safe. The Sheriff just smiles, pats his shoulder, and tells him to at least wait until the weekend to defile his son.

When it does happen - Saturday morning because Friday is spent with the pack, blacklights, and cosmic bowling - Derek’s wolf preens. Isaac has vacated the loft, content to spend the day with Lydia, and the two spend the day screwing against every surface. Before Stiles leaves the next morning, sated and sore, he giggles deliriously, fiddles with his phone as Derek traces patterns between the moles on his back, and sets the default ringtone to _I Just Had Sex_. Derek tucks his chin over Stiles’ head, asks how long he’s been holding out on that one, and the teen’s laughter fills the room.

The summer passes quicker than he would like. Between nights filled with the pack and days with Stiles and Cora, Derek wonders how he’s become so comfortable in having this many important people in his life. Jackson comes home in July, taller and mature, no longer an arrogant asshole intent on proving his worth. He asks the alpha if he can still be pack and Scott pretends to be offended; they may be one pack but he’s still an alpha.

It’s August before they realize it and everyone starts growing antsy. Between shopping for college and pack meetings revolving around mandatory Skype dates, Derek rarely gets Stiles to himself. When he does, he makes it count, kisses the teen until nothing else in the world matters, makes love to him between the sheets of his tiny single bed, in the backseat of the Jeep, in the woods behind the old Hale house.

As the pack scatters across the country, it’s bittersweet but relieving that they made it to adulthood. Cora and Boyd are the first to depart, followed by Allison, then Lydia. Jackson leaves a few days later, then Isaac and Danny. Scott and Stiles leave last and Derek drives down to Berkeley with Scott while Stiles drives ahead of them and the Sheriff behind. It’s only a four hour drive but it seems longer.

Scott says goodbye to Derek with a hug, a testament of the trust they hold in each other now, before leaving his best friend and other alpha in front of the dorm. Stiles dawdles, hands intertwined with Derek’s, air reeking of anxiety. Derek just lifts his head with a tap under the chin, kisses him slowly and thoroughly, and reminds him not to sleep through his first day of classes.

Stiles pretends the wetness in the corner of his eyes is allergies, wiping at them while Derek kisses his temple. The teen pulls his phone from his pocket and presses it into the alpha’s hand, talking into his neck. Derek unlocks the screen, having memorized the pattern months ago, and Stiles tells him to go to his contacts.

Everyone he knows is listed by name. No codes are left, no ambiguous allusions to whom they belong to. Derek is finally just _Derek Hale_. He does notice his personalized ringtone is _Black Dog_ and while they’ve talked in circles about the inappropriateness of dog jokes, it’s alright. Stiles knows he loves Led Zeppelin and Derek is elated it’s meant as a loving gesture rather than just another sarcastic quip.

\- - -

_Wasted_ is playing from the bedroom and for the third time it goes unanswered. As much as Derek loves Stiles - it’s ridiculous how much he loves Stiles - if he doesn’t get the college senior out of the loft soon, he might throw him out. This needs to stop.

It’s the last spring break of Stiles’, and the rest of the pack’s for that matter, undergrad. No one out of state bothered coming home so the only ones in Beacon Hills are Scott, Stiles, Isaac, and Allison. Therein lays the dilemma.

Scott is fighting with Allison over pursuing veterinary school. Allison has been encouraging him to go and even though they haven’t been _together_ together since high school, Scott misses her. Stiles says he’s never really fallen out of love with her, and that if he comes back to Beacon Hills, they can try dating again. Scott said Stiles didn’t get an opinion, and as much as he loves Allison, he wants what’s best for his best friend as much as she does.

They haven’t spoken to each other in six days and Derek is convinced that’s the longest they’ve ever gone without speaking. Isaac keeps texting him saying Scott won’t shut up about it. Allison called him a few days ago to sit his boyfriend down and talk some sense into him and then do the same with the other alpha of their pack.

Stiles also isn’t talking to his father. They’re on about graduate school and being able to afford it. The Sheriff wants his son to get as much education as he can and has always encouraged him into earning a masters or Ph.D.. Stiles argues in turn that if he takes out the amount of loans it’s going to take to get a M.S. at Stanford the hypothetical babies he and Derek are going to have will be paying them off after he’s dead. It shouldn’t make Derek smile because Stiles says things like that out loud without thinking, but it does.

Derek had tried talking to him about graduate school the first night of spring break. When he offered to help pay, because he has more money than he’ll ever need, the senior looked at him like he had when Derek had asked him to cut off his arm. Stiles went on a rant and slept in Isaac’s room that night. The beta let him because he likes cuddling and Stiles is as close to Lydia as he’ll get until the summer.

The kid is a month and a half out from graduation, three and a half weeks from his birthday, and two weeks from having to make a decision about graduate school. Derek doesn’t understand the issue of loans when Stiles already has a professor willing to offer him a three year stipend. Stiles says he doesn’t see the point in getting a masters when he plans on becoming a deputy for his father and knowing that the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus had a quadriga on top isn’t going to appease the little shits he’s bound to write speeding tickets for.

_Killer Queen_ starts ringing from the bedroom and Derek looks up from his desk to see Stiles’ cell flying through the air until it bounces off the top of the worn navy couch and clatters to the floor. The song continues until the alpha picks the phone up and silences it. His own starts ringing a few moments later and he thinks it’s ridiculous that at this point in life, the pack knows him well enough that if Stiles is home and not answering his phone, he’s with Derek, not Scott.

“Lydia,” Derek says, stepping out onto the balcony that’s being used as storage.

“Hale. Where’s Stiles?”

“Hoarding blankets and making a mess of my bed.”

“Please, I don’t want to know what you two do in your bedroom.”

“He hasn’t left the loft in five days, Lydia. Allison called last week. Scott doesn’t want to talk about it. I saw the Sheriff yesterday and he wants to ring Stiles’ neck for not coming home all break.”

“Let me talk to him,” she says, voice cool over the speaker.

“If he breaks my phone-"

“You can afford it, let me speak with him.”

Derek is totally not afraid of the five three strawberry blonde being short with him when she’s thousands of miles away. The alpha walks back inside with a sigh, into his room, and shoves Stiles on his back from where he’s curled in a ball on Derek’s side of the bed with a book, pad of post its, and pen. The senior squawks a protest but takes the phone and Derek leaves him in favor of getting out of the loft.

When he returns after having lunch with Scott and Isaac, Stiles is sitting on the couch with his laptop, music flowing loudly out of the speakers. He just waves as the alpha sets his keys and jacket down in the kitchen before grabbing two beers from the fridge. He may not be able to get drunk without the aid of wolfsbane but beer is beer and beer is good.

“Hey,” Derek says, handing Stiles one of the beers.

“Hi.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen you on the couch in two days.”

“What can I say? You’re bed’s comfy, Der.” Stiles smiles easily, setting his computer on the coffee table and squirming until he’s pressed against the man’s side. Derek lifts his arm and drapes it across the senior’s shoulder. “Lydia yelled at me.”

“Not a surprise.”

“Shut up. She said I was being a martyr.”

“Well.”

“I said shut up,” Stiles repeats, digging his elbow into Derek’s ribs. “She said if I don’t go to Stanford I’ll regret it.”

“We’ve all said that.”

“Yeah, but it’s Lydia. She’s always held this higher standard for me. We hold higher standards for each other. It’s part of being friends.”

“I will never understand you two.”

“You said the same thing about me and Scott and now you two are totally bros, don’t even lie.”

“And what does that make you?”

“The best friend you should totally not fuck with.” Stiles sniggers before taking a long sip of his beer.

“So you’re going to go?”

“I need to talk to my dad. When he’s not coming off a long shift. And doesn’t feel like shooting me.”

“What about Scott?”

“What do you mean?”

“Stiles, I just sat through an hour of him being mopey and Isaac trying to cheer him up and failing.”

“Scott’s going to do what he wants regardless of what Allison or I say. Lydia tried talking to him and if she can’t talk any sense into him, no one can.”

“Isaac can try.”

“Isaac thinks Scott walks on water.”

“Isaac thinks Lydia walks on water.”

“We have weird friends.”

“Yeah.”

Derek’s phone starts vibrating against the coffee table and he removes the arm around Stiles’ shoulder to pick it up. The screen reads _Cora Hale_ and the picture is of her and Boyd taken the previous summer. Stiles makes grabby hands as the alpha hands him the phone, kissing him before Stiles answers and Cora squeals over the speaker.

\- - -

As time passes, Derek’s ringtone changes but always returns to _Black Dog_. The summer between his first and second years at Stanford, Stiles comes home for a few weeks and spends a lot of time with Scott and Isaac. The three get into a debate as to who Scott will have as a best man when he and Allison get married, one of the first things the high school sweethearts talked about when they got back together before Scott left for veterinary school. Scott says Stiles by default of being his brother but Isaac won’t have to worry because he will totally be Derek’s best man when his bestie and the alpha get hitched.

Stiles nervously laughs when he retells the story to Derek in passing that night and turns the loveliest shade of red when the man agrees. Five months later, Stiles is in the middle of grading tests for the class he’s TAing when _Black Dog_ rings from the kitchen. When he opens the front door to his apartment to meet Derek at the entrance to his building, the man is on one knee, smiling in a way he only ever reserves for Stiles, and asks him to marry him. Stiles says yes between tears and kissing Derek silly.

His ringtone subsequently becomes _Marry You_ and Jennifer thinks it’s precious. By then, they’ve all gotten over the fact that what they considered in high school as taboo and scandalous happened and that was that. Stiles has come to appreciate Miss Blake for helping Derek heal in whatever way she did. Jennifer in turn says Stiles is Derek’s missing puzzle piece and that they were meant for each other in all the ways she and the alpha weren’t.

They grow up, as a pack, as a _family_ , celebrate birthdays and job promotions and weddings and children. Stiles eventually reaches the age where having songs assigned to his contacts becomes immature. He tells Derek to kiss _Black Dog_ goodbye and Derek kisses him instead. The alpha later tells him that he totally understood the _Jock_ and _Trusty_ reference and Stiles beams at him, like he’s fifteen again instead of twenty seven, and reaches over the kitchen table to kiss him.

Somewhere in the living room of the home they’ve bought, someone’s phone goes off. The other follows after the first goes unanswered. Letting calls ring over to voicemail is safe now, has been for years, and Derek is at ease knowing that Stiles won’t fret over missing one call like he would have as a teenager.

Because being occupied with the way Stiles has him pressed against the counter, kissing him breathless? That’s worth one angry message left from the pack. That’s worth the lecture he’ll get from his father-in-law.

It’s worth everything.

**Author's Note:**

> This story came to be because of three reasons. ~~One, the horribly horrible song _Blurred Lines_ and the line _but you're an animal, baby it's in your nature_.~~ [UPDATE: I've removed this song from the fic and replaced it. I was reluctant to use it in the first place and when I first heard the song, I only caught that line. Robin Thicke is a dick and I don't want that song associated with this fic.] Two, Jeff Davis saying he could see Stiles having a [coded name system](http://stayingputwouldbeablunder.tumblr.com/post/44909671654/halesparkles-and-in-that-moment-a-thousand) for the werewolves when one of my favorite authors asked him during one of his q&a sessions. And three, I have my own headcanon that Stiles assigns everyone close to him specific ringtones because he'd be able to know who was calling without needing to see the name on the screen and that that has probably come in handy more times that he'd like to count.
> 
> I changed the name twice before settling on _Basically, I_ which fit the context and tone of this fic perfectly. _Basically, I_ by Robert Delong, by the way, was featured in 3x01. If you haven't been listening to the S3 soundtrack you have been missing out.
> 
> Asides now. I don't ship Jennifer and Derek, I don't. The show is just rushing them along and I don't get it. I'll never ship Derek with anyone but Stiles, but it's canon now. So I took what I thought would be a little more believable and had a slower progression of whatever I'm supposed to believe their relationship is. I can see them being friends, however, and would be all in favor of Derek having friends his own age.
> 
> Also, Cora. We know little nothing about her at this point but some time off in the future I want her and Derek to be close and pick on each other because that's what siblings do. And for her and Stiles to be friends and talk about Derek behind his back because she knows Stiles totally wants in Derek's pants and Cora finds it hilarious.
> 
> ~~I'll probably hate myself for writing this now, based on the teaser trailer released at SDCC~~. [UPDATE: Yes, I hate myself.] But I wrote this prior to that. And I actually kind of really like what I wrote. So, yeah.
> 
> Anywho, if you want to come say hello or yell at me, you can send me a message on my [tumblr](http://stayingputwouldbeablunder.tumblr.com/). EDIT: I posted a list of all the songs I referenced in this story [here](http://stayingputwouldbeablunder.tumblr.com/post/56211279938/a-list-of-all-the-songs-in-order-referenced-in) and you can listen to the playlist [here](http://8tracks.com/stayingput/basically-i). Most of them you've probably heard, but a few others perhaps not. I have reasons for why I chose 90 percent of the songs I did and why placed them in the order I did, but I'm not going to go on about it here.
> 
> Now, back to my 'now we spin' wip.


End file.
